Page 27 - Litteratteur Redefining World December issue

Moment of Truth December 2020
Litterateur redefining world

Turning point

That fifteen-minute reading re-shaped my life. Ivan loved what he
heard and generously encouraged me. It was a pivotal moment.Here
was a man whose own work was rich and powerful. I knew no one
who even liked my work. At almost every point in my development,
someone had told me not to do what I was doing.
The reading at Larry Blake's (June, 1985) was a great success, and
Ivan and I each went on to do many more readings, together or with
others. Someone told me that he was amazed at my performance
because I seemed to be a "finished" poet, not a beginner, but no one
had ever heard of me! In all this, Adelle has been not only my wife but
my performance partner. Her performing skills and her willingness to

take the kinds of risks I ask of her have been enormous factors in my
success. She has sung, tap-danced, made faces and screamed, all in
the service of my "art." She has turned pieces which were at best
only vaguely conceived into some sort of recognizable shape. People
have said to me, "Well, your performance was all right, but Adelle...!"
In the past few years she has begun to write poetry herself, and her
haiku have appeared in various magazines. Her book, Along the
Bloodline, has an introduction by me and blurbs from prominent
local poets, including Michael McClure.

City of Berkeley
proclamation announcing
Jack Foley Day, June 5,
2010.

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