on poetry

“The poet should above all else love language.”
Raymond P. Hammond
(b. August 31, 1964)

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coming up in Cumberland

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Cascadia Poetry Festival. It has a dynamic presence, if no permanent home, and has been enjoyed in Seattle and Nanaimo (BC), and will be coming up in October in Tacoma. But before then, there’s one more Cascadia Poetry Festival — in Cumberland, BC, on Vancouver Island.

It opens on Friday, September 8, 2017, with a reception, poetry reading, and party. On Saturday, there will be a panel, small press fair, open reading event, poetry reading, and another party. On Sunday, the festival will close with a morning workshop. Your $20 Gold Pass gets you into all events except the Sunday workshop.

Spend the weekend on Vancouver Island and enjoy the words and the scenery. Details at Cascadia Poetics Lab.

on poetry

“I sit down and I simply wait to see what’s going to occur to me, and whatever occurs to me, I write it down and then I try to follow that as though it were a conversation.”
Christopher Howell
(b. August 29, 1945)

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new Bellingham venue

Poetry has a new home in Bellingham, Washington: Greene’s Corner (formerly at Smith Road and Northwest Avenue, now on James Street where VIS Seafoods used to live). With poetry features coordinated by Betty Scott, Acoustic Wednesdays are hosted by musician JP Falcon Grady and open with music (6:30pm), followed by an open mic (7:00pm) and then the evening’s feature: poetry read by outstanding regional poets.

This Wednesday, August 30, 2017, the featured poets are father and son John Morgan and Jeffrey Morgan.

John Morgan divides his time between Bellingham and Fairbanks, Alaska. He has published six books of poetry and a collection of essays, and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Paris Review, and many other magazines. In 2009, he served as the first writer-in-residence at Denali National Park.

Jeffrey Morgan is the author of Crying Shame. His poems have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Rattle, and West Branch. He is a 2017 National Poetry Series Finalist.

The Sea*

2017 Merit Award
By Maddie Patterson, 3rd grade

The sea is like a platter of opalescent
blue shine jewels. It is the biggest treasure.
The blood of the world.

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Maddie Patterson was just finishing third grade when she wrote this poem. This is her very first published poem. She likes to watch her favorite movie, Labyrinth, and draw things from her imagination. She likes to read graphic novels and chapter books.

“I wrote ‘The Sea’ while I was on the bus ride home from school. I saw Lake Whatcom and imagined it as a sea. I wanted to write a poem that described what it looked like.”

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*Copyright 2017 by Maddie Patterson. Broadside illustrated by Kim Wulfestieg.

Poem Booth update

Bellingham’s Poem Booth, located on the Forest Street side of the downtown Food Co-op, continues to offer fresh poems to go with your fresh produce. The winning poem is selected from submissions to a quarterly contest (some additional submissions are posted on the Poem Booth blog).

The June poem, “What Water Says” by Jim Bertolino, will soon be replaced by “Ode to a Flat Black River Stone” by Sheila Sondik. There will be an unveiling ceremony at 5:30pm on Friday, September 1, 2017. Please join Sheila Sondik and the Poem Booth team at this free event.

Submissions are now open for the next quarter’s poem.

plaques on view!

Plaques displaying the ten Walk Award poems from the 2017 Sue Boynton Poetry Contest are now on view in front of the Bellingham Public Library (Central Avenue between Grand and Commercial in downtown Bellingham). They will remain there until replaced by the 2018 winners. Stop by and read some poetry!

Poet Laureate

In case you missed it, Washington’s magazine, 1889, published a fine article about poet laureate Tod Marshall, “Tod Marshall, Washington’s Poetry Road Warrior.” In addition to photos and video footage, it offers a look at the scope of Marshall’s commitment to the job… and the big shoes the next poet laureate will have to fill, come 2018.

watch this!

The Poetry Foundation has posted a lovely new series of short animated films for all ages. Motion Poems is a selection of contemporary poems retold from the filmmaker’s perspective, created in partnership with Motionpoems (previously mentioned here and here), an independent animation studio that brings poetry to life through film.

on poetry

“I hate writing, I love having written.”
Dorothy Parker
(August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967)

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