last 7 days

Here’s some poetry history in the making: Copper Canyon Press is running a 10-day Kickstarter campaign, Pablo Neruda: Poetry Lost + Found.

The press’s successful 2015 campaign helped publish a collection of just-discovered, never-before-published poems by Pablo Neruda, Then Come Back: the Lost Neruda Poems.

With this new effort Copper Canyon hopes to fully fund BOOK OF TWILIGHT, Neruda’s first book of poetry, which has never before been published in English in its entirety. Funding from the previous campaign moved this book into production; the current campaign will get it finished and to the printers.

There are juicy inducements for pledges and, very importantly, this is an all-or-nothing campaign: this project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Friday, June 30, 2017, 5:00 PM PDT.

Visit Pablo Neruda: Poetry Lost + Found and pledge!

gamer poetry

In the ongoing eclectic meandering that is The Poetry Department, we’ve stumbled across a new corner of the poetry world: gaming. If you’re a video gamer, you may already know about it. If not, meet Cartridge Lit, “an online literature mag dedicated to showcasing the best lit — fiction, nonfiction, poetry — inspired by video games.” Poems, online chapbooks, and more. Cartridge Lit online and on Facebook.

translated without words

Asymptote is a literary journal of works in translation. For your Monday, when words may still be elbowing their way out of the morass of the weekend, consider these non-verbal literary works of Iranian cartoonist and graphic artist Kambiz Derambakhsh (click View Slideshow).

Kambiz Derambakhsh is also on Facebook and on Instagram @kambizderambakhsh.

Early Hike with Dog*

2017 Merit Award
By David M. Laws

The day hides beneath the horizon
as we wind our way up an unkempt trail.
Possum pushes her taut terrier body ahead,
analyzing aromas of previous passers-by,
quick peek for most but full appraisal
of others. Birds brag of territorial control,
and proclaim to potential mates dual
dreams of domesticity and reproduction.
Errant branches pull at me, sometimes
a caress, sometimes a chastisement.
This is no longer a trail, they contend,
but the fragrance of freshly rain-drenched
forest infuses me with vigor, bringing
new life to my fatigued feet. Arise! Arise!
Move forward! the world seems to call.
One last fallen tree to negotiate, Possum
under, me over, and we burst out of forest
to the summit. Sun rises over Mount Baker,
sets it ablaze, painting frozen glaciers into
fiery lava, red-gold in the new morning.

. . . . .
David M. Laws is a gardener, musician, husband, father, writer, hiker and former musical instrument repair technician who practices all of the above in Bellingham. He graduated from Western Washington University in 2005, at age 58, with a degree in English — Creative Writing Emphasis.

“My poem ‘Early Hike with Dog’ was inspired by a number of hikes I’ve taken with Possum, the Glorious Little Girl Terrier who has lived with us for four years now. Her determination has pushed me through what seemed to be impassable obstacles on numerous forgotten trails, and occasionally rewarded me with something like what the poem describes — a scene of beauty and wonder.”

. . . . .
*Copyright 2017 by David M. Laws. Broadside illustrated by Megan Carroll.

the Raven comes home

Mark your calendar for Friday, July 7, 2017, and join in A Reading & Reception for Raven Chronicles Journal Vol. 24: HOME. Along with emcee Paul Hunter, readers will include Dianne Aprile, Anna Bálint, Jim Cantú, T. Clear, Clare Johnson, Shankar Narayan, Linda Packard, Joannie Stangeland, Carolyne Wright, and Recovery Café’s Safe Place Writing Circle readers. The 7:00pm event is free and will be held at the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle.

Volume 24, on the theme HOME, features the work of 14 artists/illustrators and 68 writers from 21 states and 3 countries:

Words From the Café by Megan McInnis, Johnnie Powell, Cathy Scott, Jay Scott, and Susan Tekola.

Fiction by Jennifer Clark, Cheryce (Chy) Clayton, Clare Johnson, Gina LaLonde, Don Noel, Sue Gale Pace, Michael Philips, J.R. Robinson, and Terry Sanville.

Essays/nonfiction by Michael Dylan Welch, Inye Wokoma, Maria de Los Angeles, Diane Glancy, Thomas Hubbard, John Olson, Susan Noyes Platt, Maiah Merino, and Rebecca F. Reuter.

Poetry by Anna Bálint, Anita Endrezze, T. Clear, Larry Eickstaedt, Paul Hunter, Mark Trechock, Jim Cantú, Soonest Nathaniel, Luther Allen, Dianne Aprile, Virginia Barrett, Michele Bombardier, Elizabeth Burnam, Minnie Collins, Mary Eliza Crane, Larry Crist, Jenny Davis, Risa Denenberg, Patrick Dixon, Penny Harter, Tanya McDonald, Michael Dylan Welch, Sharon Hashimoto, Tom Hunley, Sarah Jones, J.I. Kleinberg, Charles Leggett, Joan McBride, Marjorie Maddox, Kate Miller, Kevin Miller, Shankar Narayan, Linda Packard, David J.S. Pickering, Robert Ronnow, Frank Rossini, Judith Skillman, Joannie Stangeland, Alison Stone, Angie Trudell Vasquez, Diana Woodcock, and Carolyne Wright.

Rants, Raves & Reviews
Alaskero Memories by Robert Francis Flor, reviewed by Maria Batayola
A Thousand Horses Out To Sea by Erika T. Wurth, reviewed by Thomas Hubbard
Words From the Café, An Anthology edited by Anna Bálint, reviewed by Martha Kreiner
Moods & Women & Men & Once Again Moods: An Anthology of Contemporary Romanian Erotic Poetry edited by Ruxandra Cesereanu, reviewed by Elizath Myhr
Hola and Goodbye: Una Familia in Stories by Donna Miscolta, reviewed by Angie Trudell Vasquez
Rules for Walking Out by Crysta Casey, reviewed by Corinna Wycoff
Love’s Last Number by Christopher Howell, reviewed by Polly Buckingham

. . . . .
cover art: The Fireplace in the Violinists’ House, oil on canvas, by Rebecca Pyle

Whatcom wins!

When you think “library” the next word in your mind probably isn’t “marketing.” But this week a connection was made as the Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) announced that it has won three national library marketing awards, including the very prestigious John Cotton Dana award, which comes with a $10,000 prize.

As the WCLS website explains,

WCLS worked with Red Rokk, a Bellingham-based marketing agency, to launch the “My Modern Library” campaign in the spring of 2016; the digital marketing campaign focused on promoting the library’s digital services in a fun and positive way. At the end of the 9-month campaign, WCLS more than doubled their annual goals for circulation and cardholders, increased digital circulation by 86.5%, and broke the record for most card sign-ups ever in one month by 26%.

We love our libraries and congratulate WCLS and Red Rokk on their big wins… and also thank them for their support of poetry in Whatcom County!

. . . . .
Pictured from left to right: Sally Crouse, Christina Nelson, WCLS Executive Director Christine Perkins, Sherri Huleatt, Megan Cook, Lizz Roberts, Sarah Hirsch, Red Rokk CEO Tyler Byrd, and Steven Aldous. Photo Credit: 1123 Productions

on poetry

words
are a waste of time…
poppies

Kobayashi Issa
(June 15, 1763 – January 5, 1828)

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