Boo!

In honor of ghosts, goblins, and William Shakespeare, spirit on over to the Academy of American Poets collection of Halloween poems. It’s a treat.

While you’d be lucky to find one of the 10,000 Shakespeare face masks (shown above) commissioned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s demise, you can download, color, and create your own from the Shakespeare 400 Chicago Talk Like Shakespeare Day site.

. . . . .
photo

Wrong a lot*

2016 Walk Award
By Timothy Pilgrim

Lake’s plenty deep, dive off the cliff.
She’s crazy about me. Those jeans
will fit. I’ll be there for her

if the going gets tough. No chance
it will rain, I know when to shut up.
I don’t need directions,

they adore me at work. I’ve studied
enough, no doubt I’ll be rich.
We have plenty of gas,

she doesn’t like gifts. Our love
will survive. We don’t need cash,
I’m sober, can drive. It’s just fine

to speed. I will never get caught.
I know she’ll call, she wouldn’t leave.
I won’t miss her at all.

. . . . .
*Copyright 2016 by Timothy Pilgrim. Broadside illustrated by Mat Hudson.

there’s a poetry prompt buried in there somewhere…

Looking for inspiration? Join Atlas Obscura tomorrow afternoon, Halloween Eve, Sunday, October 30, 2016, for a walking tour of Seattle’s history-rich Lake View Cemetery.
. . . . .
photo by Joe Mabel shows the grave of Austin A. Bell, for whom Belltown was named

yes, yes, November

It’s almost November, and if your calendar isn’t already bulging, please note:

• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) celebrates its 18th year of encouraging creativity, education, and the power of the imagination through the largest writing event in the world. This year, NaNoWriMo expects nearly 500,000 people to start a 50,000-word novel in the month of November, guided by this year’s theme: Your Novel, Your Universe. More than 250 NaNoWriMo novels have been traditionally published. Many poets use the project as a challenge to write a poem each day of the month. To find out more, sign up, get pep talks, participate in forums, and get inspired, visit the NaNoWriMo website.
• Writer’s Digest will offer the 2016 November PAD (Poem A Day) Chapbook Challenge. Robert Lee Brewer, author of the Poetic Asides blog, will post a prompt each day. The idea is to write a poem in response to that prompt and then, at the end of the month, assemble and submit a chapbook of the best 20 or fewer of your poems. Find out all the details on the 2016 November PAD Chapbook Challenge: Guidelines page.
• November also brings the Cascadia Poetry Festival (Seattle, Nov 3-6) and Wordstock (Portland, Nov 5).
• Daylight Saving Time ends on Sunday, November 6, 2016, 2:00:00 AM, when clocks are turned backward 1 hour to 1:00:00 AM local standard time.

getaway…and write

Looking for a last-minute getaway? There is still room available for the Northwest Writers’ Weekend, which is held Friday-Sunday, November 4-6, 2016, at Pilgrim Firs in Port Orchard.

The weekend is: four two-hour class sessions (three class choices each session), free time for writing, meals together, teacher readings/concert, all-camp reading/concert, cozy cabins, beautiful wooded surroundings.

Classes include…Songwriting: Song Seeds; What Your Characters Whisper; Finding New Voice in Persona Poetry; Songwriting: Poem to Lyric and Back; Write With Your Mouth, Edit With Your Ears: How to Make Your Writing Whisper, Growl and Sing; Using Lyrics in Stories; The Devil You Know: Keeping Your Inner Critic At Bay; “Poem in a Box”: The Prose Poem; Getting To The Point: The Essay and The Kinship of Ideas; Songwriting: Woodshedding.

Visit the Northwest Writers’ Weekend website for details.

the making of a bookstore

It takes nerve, ambition, energy, cash, time, and plenty of other resources to open a brand new independent bookstore. So we’d like to be among the first to acknowledge and congratulate Christopher J. Jarmick and Mary Harris, who are putting the finishing touches on BookTree, at 609 Market Street in Kirkland.

Mary is the former owner of Parkplace Books, which closed in December after nearly 30 years. Chris is a prolific poet and organizer of readings throughout Cascadia. They are both “passionate about the inherent value of books, reading, writing, listening and sharing diverse ideas, and viewpoints.”

Their new store is emerging from a remodeled beauty salon and, we are assured, will host a new poetry series as well as a lot of exciting readings, workshops, and special events.

BookTree will celebrate their grand opening on Saturday, November 5, 2016. Watch the BookTree website and the brand new BookTree Facebook page for details and additional photos of the bookstore-in-progress.

on poetry

 
 
“You should always be trying to write a poem you are unable to write, a poem you lack the technique, the language, the courage to achieve. Otherwise you’re merely imitating yourself, going nowhere, because that’s always easiest.”
John Berryman
(October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972)
. . . . .
photo by by Tom Berthiaume

come hear Mike

Mark your calendar: Spoken word performer Mighty Mike McGee (& friends) will grace the stage at The Green Frog in Bellingham, Washington, on Sunday, November 6, 2016. A powerhouse of the spoken word, Mike will “make you laugh and then just as easily leave you to fend for yourself in an ocean of your own tears. He’s a master of manipulating the very things that put us all together and make us human.”

Among Mike’s achievements, he is the winner of both the National Poetry Slam Individual Grand Championship AND the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship. He has toured nearly a million miles as a performer and speaker.

Watch the event page on Facebook for details and come hear Mike on November 6.

Willow Trees*

2016 Walk Award
By Winter Gariss (11th grade)

Wandering willows weep and wallow with wonder,
Idealistic breeze indigenous to the infamous trees.
Nature nurtures their nostalgic leaves while new
Trees become tied together throughout
Endless roots entangled under ebony earthen soil
Rounded rough bark reaches up and royal
Green leaves gallantly gleaming in the
Atmosphere. Almost aligned with the
Round radiant stars romantic in the night.
Icy and incapacitating beauty of
Snow softly slipping sideways in to the willow’s arms
So soundly sleeping, the world will stay.

. . . . .
*Copyright 2016 by Winter Gariss. Broadside illustrated by Kim Wulfestieg.

Tonight in Bellingham!

It’s not often that this particular blogger steps out from behind the veil of anonymity, but if not now, when? I am the very grateful recipient of the 2016 Ken Warfel Fellowship, established to distinguish and reward those poets who, like Ken Warfel, have made substantial contributions to their poetry communities. This blog, The Poetry Department, which I launched in July 2010 (today’s post is the 2,253rd), is a significant part of that contribution.

It would be an honor and a pleasure to see you in the audience this evening, Saturday, October 22, 2016, at the award ceremony. The doors open at 6:45pm and events get underway at 7:00pm. Please join me at the Mount Baker Theatre, Encore Room, 104 North Commercial Street, Bellingham, Washington. (Use the Champion Street door to enter the Encore Room.) Hope to see you there!