SFJazz Poetry Festival artists to ‘speak truth to power’

For the fifth annual SFJazz Poetry Festival, Genny Lim has curated more than four nights of interdisciplinary performances.

The whole mnemonic, oral tradition really heavily influenced and shaped the poetry that I do today.

The pen is mightier than the sword, as they say, and it’s true, because we plant word bombs and word seeds in people’s minds; the deterrent to that is to cut off our pipeline access to federal and state dollars.

“All of these people who fought so hard for civil rights have become pushed aside, and we are basically losing our human rights,” she said.

Friday is “Peace Matters,” with Rico Pabon and musical guests Jennifer Barone and Daniel Heffez of the Word Party, and Palestinian poet Mo Sati with oud player Claude Palmer.

Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, featuring a performance by devorah major and Destiny Mohammed, and Lim collaborating with Anthony Brown and the Asian American Orchestra.

Hazel Reading Series, the all-women readings curated by the previous month’s writers, returns at its new location, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, and features Anita Amirrezvani, Lisa D. Gray, Ingrid Keir, Thea Matthews, LJ Moore and Sarah Rosenthal (7 p.m. Thursday, 2868 Mission St., S.F., free).

Outburst, a politically tinged evening of readings and screenings, presents Tongo Eisen-Martin and Chris Peck the Town Crier (of the group LOAN) with poets Evan Kennedy and Stephanie Young and visual artists Caleb Duarte, Theodore J.H. Hulsker, Jennie Ottinger and Angela Willetts (7 p.m. Thursday, E.M. Wolfman, 410 13th St., Oakland, free).

Siel Ju of Los Angeles discusses “Cake Time,” her new novel in stories, with Brynn Saito (“Power Made Us Swoon”) and Andrew Lam (“Birds of Paradise Lost”) (7 p.m. Friday, Diesel, A Bookstore, 5433 College Ave., Oakland, free). www.dieselbookstore.com.

Cleave, a series featuring Bay Area women writers, presents readings by Thea Matthews, Meghan Elison, Norma Liliana Valdez and Lluvia de Milagros Carrasco, followed by a Q&A and cake (7 p.m. Friday, The Octopus Literary Salon, 2101 Webster St., Oakland, free).

Xicana poet Denise Benavides celebrates the publication of her anticipated first collection, “Split” (Kórima Press) with a reading at Galería de la Raza, which provided space for her to share her early work (7 p.m. Saturday, 2857 24th St., S.F., free).