Arlene Biala is an award-winning poet who has participated in poetry performances and workshops in the Bay Area for over 20 years. She is currently Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County for 2016-17. Her poetry has been described as “grounded in ritual object and ritual practice, mantras that resonate within the body, and plant the body firmly in the world.”
She is the author of several collections of poetry: “bone,” (Helmut Press, 1993), “continental drift” (West End Press, 1999), and her latest book, “her beckoning hands” (Word Poetry Press, 2014), which won the 2015 American Book Award.
Biala was born in San Francisco, grew up in Santa Clara (proud grad of Santa Clara HS) and has lived in Sunnyvale since 1997. She is currently a Senior Arts Program Manager with the City of San Jose’s Office of Cultural Affairs, managing grant programs, professional development and other resources for arts organizations and artists.
Bialia visited the Morgan Hill Library Feb. 27. She also answered several questions posed by The Times.
How did you get crowned as the county’s poet laureate and what does that mean to you?
The County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors appointed me to the honorary post for a two-year term ending Dec. 31. I was recommended to the board following the call for applications, and a two-step review process organized by the County and Silicon Valley Creates. A Peer Review Panel reviewed applications and rated candidates based on artistic merit, commitment to the community, and alignment of the proposed project with the Poet Laureate mission. I emerged as the recommended nominee for appointment by the Board of Supervisors. I am honored to have been selected, and to be the first Filipina SCC Poet Laureate.
What is a poet laureate?
The Santa Clara County Poet Laureate is an honorary two-year position awarded by the County of Santa Clara to elevate and celebrate the art of poetry and the literary arts. The main goals are for the poet laureate to elevate poetry in the awareness of Santa Clara County residents and to help celebrate the literary arts; serve as an advocate for poetry, literature, and the arts; lead a community project that makes poetry more accessible; and contribute to Santa Clara County’s poetry and literary legacy.
When did you fall in love with poetry? When did you start writing poetry? Where can readers find some of your published poems?
I first fell in love with poetry and began writing it in high school. I was always that kid who read voraciously, where the world could literally be crumbling around me but if I were reading, I wouldn’t notice. I was the nosey little sister, a freshman at the time, who opened my brother Jimmy’s backpack and found the “Complete Works of e.e. cummings” and snuck off to my room to read it.
Some links to my books (also available for purchase through Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble) and online poetry:
wordpoetrybooks.com/biala.html
redgreebluestudio.com/sandhillreview.org/poetry/biala.html
Please visit my blog for up-to-date news and events: poetlaureateblog.org
Who are some of your favorite poets or poetry? What inspires you to write poetry?
Patricia Smith, Juan Felipe Herrera, Adrienne Rich, Barbara Jane Reyes, Sharon Olds, June Jordan, Virginia de Araujo, to name VERY few (I could be here all day!) Life inspires me to write . . . beauty, suffering, injustice, peace, chaos, goddesses, artists of all kinds: poets, musicians, dancers, painters . . . there is inspiration in every moment. Creative expression is so powerful. Serving as witness and encouraging others to tell their own stories is powerful.
What brings you to the Morgan Hill library? Tell our readers a little about the Silicon Valley Reads program.
SVR is a phenomenal program that is offered each year with a different theme for people to engage in dialogue, to create, be inspired, entertained and educated. This year’s theme, “. . . and justice for all,” is particularly relevant today. I am participating in several events for SVR this year, and honored to come to Morgan Hill library to share poetry related to the theme and invite others to create poetry with the POETree pop-up project.
