Turning to Poetry in Times of Strife
Commemorating and Coping with Loss and Disaster Through Poetry

When things get hard, people turn to poetry. In fact, human beings have been turning to poem-hearing and making for thousands of years, and a lot of poetry — in all lands — witnesses and commemorates loss and disaster. From the early English poem “The Wanderer” to the poems tacked on the wire fences after 9/11, this art form serves as a reminder and as a comfort. Far from being removed from reality, poems express a deep and immediate connection to our circumstances, rendered in ways that invite us to feel and think with more insight, empathy, and wisdom.
So it was with great pleasure and solace that Santa Barbara residents gathered for the first 2025 Blue Whale Poetry reading at Unity Church on Wednesday, January 9, as the fires ravaged our neighbors in the L.A. and SoCal area. Solidarity and empathy with our friends and family to the south were signaled many times during the evening. At one point, organizer and co-host Christine Kravetz asked for a moment of silence as we sent our thoughts towards those enduring and battling the conflagration.
Two vivacious poets featured at this event demonstrated and dramatized how big and welcoming the poetry tent can be — housing artists who work in spare Zen-like imagery and those who celebrate the florid, free-ranging artistry of slam.
The first featured poet was longtime Santa Barbara resident Gabriella Klein, who is a sixth-generation Californian. In her opening remarks, she addressed the importance of poetry in crisis directly, sharing with the audience that “poetry is a sort of prayer” and that these utterances could, she believed, positively impact the real world. This faith is fueled by her view of poetry, which she told me later is “an instrument and a practice, [that] opens linguistic pathways toward greater empathy, discovery and invention.”
Klein’s set of 10 linked poems engaging with lunar movements were crystalline and beautiful. Notably, she performed them as one big flow of words, without commentary in between the pieces. The result was a reflective, meditative set that felt like one gigantic ocean of poems, refreshing the parched sensibilities of the people in attendance. Here is an example:

Good Game Good Game Good Game
by Gabriella Klein
The hawk’s shadow
At the solstice zenith
Opens a door in my mind
Everything you love you will lose
A covey of quail ground swelling
From bush to blatant bush
The lace lichen
As it lays itself from oak to Earth
As a function of exhalation
The tears must come
O arrow of sorrow about the sorrow
These are just thoughts the hawk says
Wing beckoning to me
You do not have to have them
You go through the door and then there is more
Everything you love you will find.
The second featured poet, introduced by co-host George Yatchisin, brought an equally striking dynamism to the evening. This was Sean Colletti, who is a founder of the Ventura County Poetry Festival and host of the (semi-)monthly event “Poetry in the Gallery” at the Studio Channel Islands Art Center, which features a combination of open mic performances and guest readers. Holding both a doctorate from the University of Birmingham (U.K.) and Slam poetry prizes, Colletti brings the love of poetry community and deep erudition to his work, which he shared both by reading and performing. His set ranged from poems about roadkill to the existential underpinnings of our relationships with each other mediated through video games. Underneath ran a continual invitation toward kindness and thoughtfulness as evidenced in the opening lines of this poem, which cites the Ancient Roman philosopher/emperor Marcus Aurelius:
(from “Making Yourself Good”)
by Sean Colletti
“Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to live … while you have life in you, while you still
can, make yourself good.” —Marcus Aurelius
Begin from the ground up.
Make the soles of your feet rough
enough to walk barefoot as often
as you can, so you can dig your
toes into the earth’s memories.
Make your knees so pliable that you can bend
down to speak with all the children without
sighing or creaking. Look at what life is like
down there. Ask them Why is the sky blue?
Then, bend even further down and wriggle
across the pavement with the snails after
rain and join the march of ants during summer.
Elsewhere, Colletti invokes the personal and the immediate, calling us back to each other and to our responsibilities to the natural world.
Untitled
by Sean Colletti
“What I have done with the garden that was entrusted to me”
after Antonio Machado
Kept it in the junk drawer
or closet as a load-bearer
for something else so perfectly
neglected. Not even the cat
is interested when she sleuths by,
the garden having lost its scent.
My neighbor and I smoke pot
on our front porches, so I ask him
about his garden. He clicks his tongue
and looks like his team lost at the buzzer—
says something about how he inherited it
like that. When we speak, we can only see
our faces through the burning of leaves.
These two remarkable poets — with their precision and energy — seemed to open up the space for the open mic participants who followed them. Local poets used this opportunity shared work that was raw, brutal, and brilliant.
Personally, I think that we need poems more than ever. So consider coming over to Unity next month for a celebration of the poetry magazine SALT, featuring a lot of poets (including yours truly), and the next Blue Whale Series reading, which will happen in March.
About the Author: Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a poet and novelist living in Santa Barbara. Her most recent poetry collection is CITY SLICKER (Bamboo Dart Press, 2023).
Upcoming Poetry Events:
January 16: Poetry Book Club discusses Creature by Marsha de la O, 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Timbre Books (1910 E. Main St., Ventura).
January 25: William Stafford Annual Reading, 2 p.m., at the First Crossing Day Use Area on Paradise Road in Los Padres National Forest. George Yatchisin will be the first reader and Emily Sommermann will play the violin.
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(CEC) Film Screening – “Broke” with Talk/Panel Discussions
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SBIFF – Tribute to Adrien Brody and Guy Pierce
Fri, Feb 14
All day
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Rusty’s Delectable Heart-Shaped Pizza for V-Day!
Fri, Feb 14
2:00 PM
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Lego Love Fest
Fri, Feb 14
5:00 PM
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Date My Dog Singles Party at Unbearable
Fri, Feb 14
6:30 PM
Ojai
Valentine’s Special: Katie Ferrara & Sophie Holt
Sat, Feb 15 11:00 AM
Santa Barbara
Mosaic Makers Market
Wed, Feb 12 5:30 PM
Santa Barbara
Zentangles: The Art of Meditative Doodling
Wed, Feb 12 7:00 PM
Santa Barbara
ReCoverCA Homebuyer Assistance Workshop
Wed, Feb 12 8:00 PM
Santa Barbara
SBIFF – Tribute to Zoe Saldaña
Thu, Feb 13 5:45 PM
Santa Barbara
Cupid’s Comedy Valentines for singles only!
Thu, Feb 13 6:30 PM
Santa Barbara
(CEC) Film Screening – “Broke” with Talk/Panel Discussions
Thu, Feb 13 8:00 PM
Santa Barbara
SBIFF – Tribute to Adrien Brody and Guy Pierce
Fri, Feb 14 All day
Santa Barbara
Rusty’s Delectable Heart-Shaped Pizza for V-Day!
Fri, Feb 14 2:00 PM
Santa Barbara
Lego Love Fest
Fri, Feb 14 5:00 PM
Santa Barbara
Date My Dog Singles Party at Unbearable
Fri, Feb 14 6:30 PM
Ojai
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