Armantrout in Everett
May 31, 2019
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rae Armantrout will read from her latest collection, Wobble, on Sunday, June 2, 2019, at 2:00pm, at the Everett Library. The event is free.
If you miss her in Everett, catch Armantrout reading with Ron Silliman on Sunday, June 23, 5:00pm, at Open Books in Seattle.
More on Wobble at Wesleyan University Press.
dreams, delivered
May 30, 2019
Back in November 2016 we posted about Mathias Svalina’s Dream Delivery Service. In the intervening years, Svalina has continued to write and deliver dreams and for the month of June, 2019, he will be in Seattle! If you live in Seattle or have a mailbox, you can sign up now for daily dreams (or nightmares!) for the month of June. If you live within a 4-mile radius of Svalina’s home base, your dreams will be delivered by bike; otherwise they’ll come by mail. Click to subscribe to Dream Delivery Service for June.
On Saturday, June 29, at 7:00pm, pop in to Open Books to celebrate the closing of the Dream Delivery Service’s month in Seattle and to send Mathias on his way as he bicycles to Boise for the next step. Mathias will read a few of the 1,000 or so dreams he wrote for subscribers throughout the month of June.
calendar page
May 30, 2019
Just a reminder that the CALENDAR page is loaded with poetry events and updated almost daily. It covers the Cascadia region and extends 12 months into the future.
We’ve added sections for events that happen Every Week and Every Month, and we’ve also added poetry/writing conferences and the dates that submissions open for publications that are based in the region.
To make a correction or add your event to the calendar, send an email to thepoetrydepartment at gmail dot com with the following information (required): date, city, brief description, time, venue, valid link for more information.
Click on CALENDAR, near the top of this page. Add your event. Visit often.
resources!
May 29, 2019
The University of Arizona Poetry Center has posted a useful guide to publishing poetry. The guide addresses five topics: Polish, Research, Submit, What to Expect After Submission, and Alternatives to Traditional Literary Publishing. In addition to providing direct suggestions in each section, the guide also supplies links to outside resources on the topic. If you’re seeking a wider audience for your work, have a look at A guide for poets.
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Whatcom WRITES
May 28, 2019
Each year, Whatcom County, like many communities, selects a single title as a community read. For 2020, the Whatcom READS book is To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. As an extension of the program, Whatcom WRITES invites writers of all ages and experience levels to explore themes related to the book and to submit work to the annual contest. The theme this year is discovery and the deadline for submissions is October 15, 2019. Read the guidelines here.
Bye Bye, WordsWest
May 27, 2019
For five years (2014-2019), WordsWest has hosted literary events on the third Wednesday of the month, 7:00pm, at C & P Coffee Company in West Seattle. This is the final year of events for WordsWest and Wednesday, June 19, 2019, is the last event. You’re invited to celebrate with the poets at “Cake in the Garden,” featuring an incredible line-up of WordsWest writers from all five years, including Elizabeth Austen, Quenton Baker, Rick Barot, Claudia Castro Luna, Christine Deavel, Lyanda Lynn Haupt, Rachel Kessler, J.W. Marshall, Greg November, Renee Simms, and Ann Teplick. WordsWest co-curator Harold Taw will offer a favorite poem and Open Books will be on hand to offer books for sale.
Thanks to WordsWest for five good years!
Bones*
May 26, 2019
2019 Walk Award
by Margaux Barber, Kindergarten
Bones are teeth.
Bones are bloody.
Bones are in my body.
. . . . .
*Copyright 2019 by Margaux Barber. Broadside illustrated by Angela Boyle.
coming up at the Frye
May 25, 2019
An installation by poet and Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Western Washington University (and 2018 Boynton judge) Jane Wong will be on exhibit June 1 through September 1, 2019, at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. After Preparing the Altar, the Ghosts Feast Feverishly draws on Wong’s upbringing in a Chinese American restaurant in New Jersey as well as her family’s experience of hunger and poverty in rural China. The solo exhibition includes altars, sculptural poems, and personal effects. Admission to the museum is free.
on poetry
May 24, 2019
“It is a poem. It is a poem. That’s what it is. My poem. It’s as near as I get.”
Tom Phillips
(b. May 24, 1937)
Jack Straw is folks
May 23, 2019
Jack Straw Writers will be highlighted at two Northwest Folklife Festival events this weekend, Saturday, May 25, and Sunday, May 26, 2019.
On Saturday, Jack Straw Writers Showcase presents Samar Abulhassan, Josh Axelrad, Christianne Balk, Sylvia Byrne Pollack, Rena Priest, Michael Schmeltzer, and Suzanne Warren reading their work, hosted by 2006 Jack Straw Writer Larry Laurence. The reading will be held at 2:30pm at the Folklife Underground Cafe.
On Sunday, Jack Straw Youth Showcase will feature youth poets, musicians, and singers from Lowell and Roxhill Elementary Schools, Denny Middle School, Seattle World School, University Prep, and Cornish College of the Arts performing original poetry and music with Jack Straw artists J.R. Rhodes and Marco de Carvalho, Wes Weddell, Trio Guadalevin, and Bill Horist. See them starting at 11:45am on the Vera Project Stage.
The Poetry Department . . . aka The Boynton Blog 