Los Angeles, November 25, 2021
For immediate release

Foundation Aquarius pays tribute to one of California greatest poets, Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972). In recognition of K. Patchen, the L.A. Poetry Beach Festival will be held on his 110 th birthday, december 13, 2021.

Theme
The theme of this year’s L.A. Poetry Beach Festival is ‘get ready to die’. Kenneth Patchen painted these words on the frontpage of the september 1961 edition of Liberation.

Contest
Poets may submit their poem to us through our website before midnight, December 1, 2021. From all entries, a maximum of 52 poems will be selected for the Los Angeles Poetry Beach 2021 publication, entitled, “Get ready to die”

L.A. Poetry Beach Festival
From the 52 we will select 12 finalist poets who will get the opportunity to recite their poem at the L.A Poetry Beach Festival, (located in front of the Venice Beach Poetry Monument at 1530 Ocean Front Walk, Los Angeles) on December 13, 2021 from 8 till 9:30 p.m..

Kenneth Patchen
Kenneth Patchen experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works. Patchen has been compared with the likes of William Blake and Walt Whitman. Along with his friend and peer Kenneth Rexroth, he was a key influencer of the Beat Generation. This year it’s also almost 50 years ago that he died (jan 1972).

EXTRA

Beach to Beach Poetry Tour
To raise awareness for L.A. Poetry Beach 2021 Erik Van Loon will travel by train from New York City to Los Angeles. During this 4,542 miles beach to beach Poetry Tour Erik will meet different poets en route.

Tiny advertisement campaign
To launch the L.A. Poetry Beach Festival the organization has purchased a large LA Times tiny advertisement campaign. The first advertisement will appear in the November 21, 2021 issue of the LA Times. A follow-up advertisement will appear on November 28, December 5 and December 12, 2021. Please find below the four advertisements:

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More info:
Foundation Aquarius
Erik Van Loon
lapoetrybeach@gmail.com