Thirteen*

2019 Merit Award
By Susan Cohen Raphael

At thirteen
I was put in jail
for running away from home

I remember well
that first night in one small room
with four closed walls
a bare bed
a sink
a mirror
one small high barred window
a door with barred minuscule opening

I remember the sounds of voices
and the sound of free movement in the hall
I remember the lights of the city
the stars in the sky
I remember crying

It was Christmas night
and I was frightened
and I was alone

. . . . .
*Copyright 2019 by Susan Cohen Raphael. Broadside illustrated by Christian Anne Smith.

Seabeck Haiku Getaway

It’s time to sign up for the 2019 Seabeck Haiku Getaway, October 24–27 in Seabeck, Washington. Among many other activities, this year’s program features Adam L. Kern, editor and translator of The Penguin Book of Haiku, and Ion Codrescu, a renowned haiga artist from Romania. It will also celebrate the launch of the Seabeck Haiku Walk, a series of twenty metal plaques featuring poems by Haiku Northwest members, that are being permanently installed around the Seabeck Conference Center campus. Complete schedule here and registration information here.

what are YOU reading?

It’s Banned Books Week. Learn more about where poetry fits in the history of censorship and find out much more about Frequently Challenged Books with statistics provided by the Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association.

Reasons to go to… New York

Really, who needs a reason? But if you should find that your travel plans include New York this autumn, be sure to visit The Center for Book Arts, which is presenting three new exhibitions that showcase the book as a medium that translates across time and space: Walt Whitman’s Words: Inspiring Artists Today curated by Deirdre Lawrence, The Traveling Artist: Journals by Lydia Rubio, and Witnessing Through Artist’s Books: Clarissa Sligh. These exhibits will be open to the public October 4 through December 14, 2019. (Note: The Center for Book Arts website is under construction, so here is a detailed description on Eventbrite, and here is a Facebook link.)

Walt Whitman’s Words includes work by the remarkable artist Meg Hitchcock. If you do go to New York, you can also see Hitchcock’s visual poetics at C24 Gallery (September 26 – November 29), Doug Adams Gallery at Graduate Theological Union (September 5 – December 13), and Green Door Gallery in Brooklyn (October 11 – November 10, 2019).

tantalizing

Kahini has a tantalizing list of year-round offerings, including writing retreats on the island of Kaua’i in January, April, July, October, and November, and the 2020 April Poetry Symposium with Kim Addonizio. And there’s more: the Kolkata Writers’ Retreat, in April, and the Kampala Writers’ Retreat, in October. These programs have limited enrollment and fill quickly, so if you’re interested, don’t hesitate.

on poetry

“Poetry begins where language starts: in the shadows and accidents of one person’s life.”
Eavan Boland
(b. September 24, 1944)

. . . . .
photo
quote from: A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet

Reading Bertolino

SpeakEasy 26: Reading Bertolino will be a lively evening of poetry written by James Bertolino and honoring this prolific and influential poet.

Jim’s poetry has been published internationally in hundreds of magazines, scores of anthologies, and dozens of books over the past 50+ years. He holds an MFA from Cornell University, has won numerous awards, and taught creative writing for more than 36 years. Jim’s first book was published in 1968, and his recent publications include Ravenous Bliss: New and Selected Love Poems (MoonPath Press, 2014) and Last Call: The Anthology of Beer, Wine & Spirits Poetry (World Enough Writers, 2018), which he edited. Bertolino’s poem “A Wedding Toast” was featured on Ted Kooser’s syndicated column, American Life in Poetry, on June 29, 2019.

This free, public event will be held at the Mount Baker Theatre Encore Room in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday, October 5, 2019, at 7:00pm. Please join us.

Sky Goes Flying*

2019 Walk Award
By Jaelyn Pitts, age 3

Sky goes flying
Sky goes with them
Sky goes digging
Sky goes flying
Sky goes digging for a bone

. . . . .
*Copyright 2019 by Jaelyn Pitts. Broadside illustrated by Christian Anne Smith.

Walt does the heavy lifting

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) honored the 200th anniversary of the birth of Walt Whitman with a new stamp in its Literary Arts series. The 85-cent stamp is intended for domestic First-Class Mail weighing up to 3 ounces. The stamp was issued on September 12, 2019, at the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site in Huntington Station, New York. More information here.

And as long as we’re on the subject, we should mention that Canada Post is honoring Leonard Cohen with three stamps featuring the poet/artist during different phases of his 60-year career. The new stamps will be available to the public today, September 21, which would have been Cohen’s 85th birthday. Further details in the Montreal Gazette.

next Friday in Anacortes

After a summer break, the Empty Bowl Reading Series at Pelican Bay Books in Anacortes resumes next Friday, September 27, 2019, at 7:00pm. The season’s first program features Lorraine Healy and Jane Alynn, two excellent poets and photographers