Patron Saints of Influence Spring Reading & Open Mic

The next Patron Saints of Influence quarterly literary reading & open mic will pay homage to poet, musician, and political activist Gil Scott-Heron with featured readings by Yume Kim, Steve Shain, and Grayson Thompson on Sunday, April 26 starting at 4PM at Shady Oak Barrel House in Santa Rosa.

You are also welcome to share some of your own written work in 5 minutes or less during the open mic (arrive early to sign up). That could include song lyrics or spoken word if you’re especially inspired by Gil Scott-Heron, but all words are welcome as long as they’re not hateful.

About the Featured Readers:

Yume Kim is a poet, educator, and author of Reserve the Right. In 2011, she moved from her home state Virginia to California for her graduate studies at San Francisco State University. There, she earned both an M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Additionally, she is a recipient of the following fellowships: Kundiman (June 2012), The Ruby Creatives in Residence (2022-2023), and The Bay Area Writing Project Invitational Summer Institute (June 2024). Some of her works can also be found in the following journals: gesture, sPARKLE + bLINK, West Wind Review, Transfer, Sugared Water, Writing Without Walls, The Bangalore Review, You Might Need to Hear This, and The Sad Girls Lit Club.

Steve Shain’s journey with the voice of the bass began in 1963 in Chicago Heights, Ill. Since being introduced to beat generation poet ruth weiss by painter Paul Beattie in 1984, Steve has usually been seen accompanying poets throughout the Bay Area. Most recently, Steve’s own verbiage is being shared; a unique/personal perspective on a life lived, from a survivor/observer/commentator. The voice of Steve’s bass is special, too: a 1930s Alcoa made in Buffalo, NY, Dura (the bass) speaks: not jazz/not classical/not bluegrass but “BASSICNESS” … inherent tones & rhythms dictated by inspiration and the present tense. His teachers include Florence Dangermond, Nancy McCain, Edward Krolick, Curtis Burris, and Glen Moore. His muse-ical mentors include Ron Crotty, Darrell DeVore, Richard Waters, and Harry Partch. He has also shared stages with ruth weiss, Jack Micheline, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Eugene Ruggles, Sherrill Milnes, Eugene Istomin, Earl LeClaire, and David Best; and recorded with Leopard Set, Tom Waits, and others. When not playing bass, Steve can be found as proprietor of “bassic sewing”, a Santa Rosa leather fabrication & repair shop.

Grayson Thompson [he/him] is a Black, Jamaican-American, queer transgender cowboy poet who moonlights as a therapist. He is the inaugural Slam Poetry Champion of Santa Rosa, CA. A mouthful, Grayson is Foglifter Press’ 2024 Start A Riot! Chapbook Prize Winner with SAND BODIED FLORIDA BOY and Winner of Write Bloody Publishing’s 2024 Jack McCarthy Book Prize for his full-length collection, A CONGREGATION OF ALLIGATORS (September 2025). Born in Massachusetts, raised between Florida and New England, Grayson’s work centers the body and its relationship to the prerequisites needed for social existence…to be recognized by others as being human. His poems explore race, queerness, and gender; family, grief, and grace.