if you wake up in Kalamazoo…

If you happen to wake up this last day of May in Kalamazoo, Michigan, don’t miss this evening’s Dog and Poetry Show: Poets Unleashed! to benefit the Kalamazoo Humane Society. Donated copies of To Unsnare Time’s Warp: Stories and Poems About Dogs will be for sale (the title, by the way, comes from Mark Doty’s poem Golden Retrievals). Featured poets include Kit Almy, Margaret DeRitter, Kathleen McGookey, Mark Nepo, Jennifer Clark, Elizabeth Kerlikowske, Gail Martin and Lynn Pattison.

Gather Round: stories

Honey Moon Mead & Cider has added a new monthly event to their music- and poetry-friendly programming: Gather Round.

This evening, Tuesday, May 30, 2017, will be the fourth in the Gather Round series, which happens on the last Tuesday of each month. Here’s the official description:

Gather Round is inspired by The Moth, the New York based non-profit dedicated to “true stories told live.” We believe that nothing binds a community together like shared stories. Our format is Open Mic: prospective tellers prepare a story based on the evening’s theme and submit their names before the show starts. Our rules are simple:

1. Stories must be true and personal, that is, they must relate something that actually happened and directly affected the teller.
2. Stories must be told, not read — they must be performed without notes.
3. Stories last approximately 5-8 minutes.

We’re committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for all sorts of stories to be shared. Funny stories, sad stories, stories about small triumphs or epic defeats; stories about friends, about families, about the search for love or justice; stories about the human condition and how we cope with it on any given day. Come tell us a story, or just sit back and listen as others share theirs.

One more thing: our space is small and seating is limited — come early to get a good spot!

Each Gather Round has a theme. The theme for this evening’s event is “Taking Liberties – Stories of Overstepping Bounds.”

We’ve all taken liberties in big ways and small, with people, with situations, with facts. Maybe you’re a rebel at heart, always defying conventions, or maybe you’ve occasionally chosen to bend the rules, just slightly and for good reason. Maybe it’s what happened that time your parents were out of town; maybe it’s a story you embellished for artistic effect; maybe you were impudent, or impertinent, or too fresh. Maybe the moment helped define who you were, or who you didn’t want to be. Maybe it wasn’t a big deal, but it makes a good story. Either way, we’d love to hear about it.

See more Gather Round on Facebook.

planning ahead

Here’s an event for your later-this-summer calendar: The 2017 Poetry Marathon. This year’s Marathon will take place on August 5, starting at 9:00am ET and concluding at 9:00am ET on the 6th.

The idea is that during those 24 hours, you write and post a poem each hour. What you do during any remaining minutes of each hour is up to you, but some advance planning — snacks, prompts, marathon buddies — is a good idea. The marathon team posts hourly prompts and has a Facebook group for ongoing inspiration.

If staying awake (or diligent catnapping) for 24 hours is daunting, this year there will also be TWO half-marathons (12 poems in 12 hours): one beginning at 9:00am ET and concluding at 9:00pm ET on the 5th, the other beginning at 9:00pm ET on the 5th and concluding at 9:00am ET on the 6th.

Participation is free, but you must register in advance. Whichever version you do, one or two dozen poems drafted in such a short time is quite a remarkable result. You can sleep any time. Put it on your calendar and learn more at The Poetry Marathon.

on poetry

“I’m two eyes looking out of a suit of armor. I write because I can’t talk.”
May Swenson
(May 28, 1913 – December 4, 1989)

. . . . .
photo

come hear Lana!

Lana Hechtman Ayers, who spends a prodigious amount of time promoting the voices of poets through her imprints at Concrete Wolf, MoonPath Press, and World Enough Writers (among others) will bring her own voice to the podium on Friday, June 9, 2017, at 7:00pm, when she will be the featured poet for the Distinguished Writer Series at King’s Books, Tacoma. Lana will read from her various poetry collections, including her new book, Four Quarters: An Homage To T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets. Come hear Lana!

What’s wrong with this picture?

Nothing!

This is the Aina Nalu villas, two blocks from Front Street, in Lahaina, Maui. In January, 2018, you could be there, enjoying a week of “play and messing around, and at the same time about following some given rules and restrictions” with Kim Addonizio. The Kahini 2018 Maui Writers’ Retreat will fill up quickly. If you’re even slightly interested, visit Kahini and learn more soon!

poetry plus film plus something different

Perhaps you, too, have never heard of the Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts. But if you have a unique way of exploring poetry on film, take note. As Doublebunny Press explains, “Anyone can make a video of a poet reading a poem, but that’s not what Rabbit Heart is all about. What we’re looking for is what can be done visually with a poem, without showing performance.”

Submissions are now open for the 2017 Rabbit Heart festival. The deadline is July 1, 2017, and the festival is in October. Read the rules. View some Rabbit Heart on YouTube. Submit your film.

And hey, if you win, let us know, okay?

last chance for early bird

This is a guest post by Amberly Baker.

Have you made any fun plans for summer? Are you looking to spend time in one of the most beautiful regions of the country? This year, do something inspiring and fulfilling, and engage with a huge community of writers at the Chuckanut Writers Conference on Friday and Saturday, June 23-24, 2017, at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington.

An annual craft-centered writing conference, Chuckanut is an amazing opportunity for all writers, whether you’re local or visiting, have published three novels or are writing on napkins in rare quiet moments. The conference offers a weekend of breakout sessions and keynote addresses, taught by some of the finest writers our area has to offer. For an additional fee, attendees can register for pre-conference master classes, agent pitch sessions, marketing consultations and editing consultations. You can find the full line up on the website.

And today, Monday, May 22, is the last day for Early Bird Registration! If you register today, you’ll receive the $239 rate, a savings of forty dollars. You can register online, by phone, or by mail; for more information, visit the registration information section of our website, here. But don’t wait, this deal is good through today only!

I am so excited to share this amazing opportunity with you. This conference is a great experience, one that draws attendees back year after year. Tara Fort, an attendee of last year’s conference, said, “Perfect amount of speakers, sessions, and attendees. I feel inspired and not overwhelmed. I am looking forward to 2017!” We are too. We’ll see you at the conference!

. . . . .
Amberly Baker is a student in Western Washington University’s Creative Writing program, and works at a small bookstore. When she is not reading or writing, she enjoys playing Animal Crossing, knitting, and is obsessed with her cats.

last minute…today at 5

Join Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall, Michael Haeflinger of Tacoma’s LTAB and student poets at a special screening of the documentary film, Louder Than A Bomb.

Copies of selected books of poetry will be available for purchase, as well as light fare and beverages.

Today, Sunday, May 21, 2017 | 5:00pm | Free | Suggested donation $5 | at Bitters Co., 14034 Calhoun Road, Mount Vernon, Washington

the poetry of rejection

In case you missed the December broadcast on PBS, you can watch/listen/read Jeffrey Brown’s interview with Graywolf Press executive editor Jeff Shotts in which they discuss the press’s 99 percent rejection rate and the difference between publication and poetry. Find it on PBS Newshour.