The reading a cancelation could not cancel:
Belonging to a Place: Two Poets on Place as Legacy
The reading a cancelation could not cancel
…Epic in spite of, and because of, last minute cancellation of event because of a freak power outage at the Mill Valley Library (CA). The staff was let off immediately and doors locked just before the poets and guests were to arrive. Registered guests received a library email notice which many did see. King and organizer Jayne McPherson of Marin Poetry Center, did a “poet pivot” and King urgently arranged for King’s pre-planned afterparty at a nearby restaurant to be moved up to 6:30, Jayne improvising a note on the library door. Already driving to the event, King attempted to notify friend guests. Most attendees showed up to a dark and locked library and drove on, sadly unaware of the new venue.
Before long the power had been restored and late-arriving guests were surprised that the lights were on at the library but nobody home. If some of the staff would have rode out the outage a bit, the show could have been only delayed and gone on as planned.
At the restaurant on Mill Valley’s plaza, former theatre producer and director King announced “the show must go on,” and so it did with proper BoHo pizazz as puzzled guests wandered to the new location. Now in a banquet room, around 25 guests were able to eat, drink and be merry while listening to to these dynamic poets in an intimate affair.
King noted that he had his start as a performing poet just across the street at the literary-famed Book Depot. Dunkle fascinated and surprised with her revealing discoveries of Jack London’s and Steinbeck’s source material. King pulled out his theatrical fireworks and poetic parlor tricks to the delight of the room.
Following the main event, Jayne and several guests stayed, such as poet friends of King (Live Poet Society founder Ari Maslow, Bay Area Troubadour Alex McKleroy), to read their own poems and haiku. Other known and notable Marin guests included noted bistro decorator Chris Wong, fashionista Carol Green, Metaphysical Movie Reviewer Robert Tobin, man-about-town Scott Elrod, lit fan Rick “Koz”, Beat fan Jim Mitchell. A wild night. But not at the Mill Valley Public Library.
This event has passed. Thursday, October 1, 2026 6:00-8:00pm > registration required.
Mill Valley Library Mill Valley, CA Creekside Room*
In the work of J.Macon King and Iris Jamahl Dunkle, landscapes speak—not merely as settings, but as repositories of memory, history, identity, and belonging. Their poems invite us to see place as an inheritance, one that asks not only where we come from, but how we belong to the places that shape us and what we are called to preserve.
J.Macon King is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The MILL VALLEY LITERARY REVIEW. King’s debut novelized memoir of 1979 San Francisco, Circus of the Sun, received stellar reviews. He revived and directed Marin County’s Rhubarb Revue Theatre and his writing and work was featured in SFGate, Marin Independent Journal, San Francisco Magazine, San Francisco Marina Times, Pacific Sun, Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Brushfire Journal, Sensitive Skin, The Bohemian, Blue Institute, San Francisco’s Beat Museum and more. He has published three poetry chapbooks, is co-founder of Gerstle Park Writers Salon and a charter member of Live Poet Society.
Iris Jamahl Dunkle is a poet, biographer, and scholar whose work challenges the male-centric narratives of the American West, amplifying the often-overlooked voices of women. Her books include the USA Today bestselling, Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb (University of California Press, 2024), and her latest poetry collection, West: Fire : Archive (2021).
* Registrations open https://millvalleylibrary.libcal.com/event/16968886